Travelers from Texas are required to quarantine for 14 days in these three states
On Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that Texans who are planning a trip to New York, Connecticut or New Jersey must now quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
“We now have to make sure the rates continue to drop,” Cuomo said during a briefing with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont via video conferencing. “We also have to make sure the virus doesn’t come on a plane again.”
The state of New York was one of the hardest hit when the coronavirus first reached the U.S., with New York City regarded as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Confirmed coronavirus cases in New York, which enacted strict social distancing guidelines, have been on a steady decline since May, while daily cases in Texas continue to increase.
Texas lifted restrictions in late April when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a phased reopening of businesses.
In May, Abbott announced that travelers flying to Texas from certain areas would no longer be required to self-quarantine for two weeks, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Abbott had previously ordered “restrictions that mandated 14-day quarantines for travelers flying from California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan or Miami, Florida.”
Texas “is one of eight states currently experiencing high (COVID-19) infection rates” included in the travel restriction, according to CBS. Visitors from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington and Utah must quarantine as well if they travel to New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, Cuomo announced.
“It’s only for the simple reason that we worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down,” Cuomo said. “We don’t want to see it go up because a lot of people come into this region and could literally bring this infection with them.”
As of Tuesday evening, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 5,489 new coronavirus cases for that day.
“Today, Texas will report an all-time high in the number of cases of people testing positive,” Abbott said on Tuesday to KBTX. The governor urged Texans to stay home and to wear a mask in public.
“The hospitalization rate is at an all-time high. The coronavirus is serious. It’s spreading in Brazos County, across the entire state of Texas.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 2:40 PM.